Tapping into San Diego’s biotech talent pool, a Michigan-based developer of an experimental therapy for liver disease is moving its administrative headquarters here.

Cirius Therapeutics of Kalamazoo also has hired three experienced biomedical executives in San Diego to lead the company in connection with the opening.

It will use $40 million of newly raised money to complete a mid-stage clinical trial of an experimental liver drug, said Bob Baltera, the company’s new CEO.

Also hired were Dr. Howard Dittrich as chief medical officer and Brian Farner as chief business officer. Both worked with Baltera at a previous business, Laguna Pharmaceuticals, which closed in December 2015.

Cirius will retain its Kalamazoo location for research and development, Baltera said. San Diego’s administrative headquarters will have a “small team,” he said, and Dittrich will oversee clinical trials.

The company is in the process of leasing space for its San Diego operations, Baltera said. It will probably be located in the High Bluff Drive area of Carmel Valley.

Cirius raised the $40 million from venture capital firms led by Frazier Healthcare Partners and Novo A/S. Frazier had hired Baltera, Dittrich and Farmer in January 2016 to scout for a new company to invest in, and they identified Cirius.

The company is now in Phase 2b testing of a drug for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, and liver fibrosis. The drug resensitizes patients to insulin. Resistance to insulin is a major factor in NASH and liver fibrosis, as well as Type 2 diabetes.

NASH is a major health threat to the United States, Baltera said. While the liver has great regenerative powers, beyond a certain point the damage becomes irreversible, leading ultimately to cirrhosis.

David Harrison / Harrison Photographic

Bob Baltera

Bob Baltera (David Harrison / Harrison Photographic)

At the end stage, the only alternative is a liver transplant. If the disease process can be interrupted, the liver has a chance to recover, averting the need for a liver transplant.

The Cirius drug, now called MSDC-0602K, was previously intended to treat Type 2 diabetes, Baltera said. However, the need and market opportunity in NASH and related liver diseases were considered greater.

“Insulin resistance is a root cause that begins fatty liver disease, down the way to NASH, and eventually cirrhosis,” Baltera said. “What we think we have here is a different approach than the majority of the approaches out there.”

Researchers used eggs from healthy females and the sperm of a man who carried a gene mutation that causes inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. (Aug. 3, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Researchers used eggs from healthy females and the sperm of a man who carried a gene mutation that causes inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. (Aug. 3, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

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Researchers used eggs from healthy females and the sperm of a man who carried a gene mutation that causes inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. (Aug. 3, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

Researchers used eggs from healthy females and the sperm of a man who carried a gene mutation that causes inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. (Aug. 3, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

The study has cultural implications, presenting a unifying message in a society fiercely divided along political and sectarian lines. (July 28, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

The study has cultural implications, presenting a unifying message in a society fiercely divided along political and sectarian lines. (July 28, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

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The NFL issued a statement saying the league “will continue to work with a wide range of experts to improve the health of current and former NFL athletes.”

The NFL issued a statement saying the league “will continue to work with a wide range of experts to improve the health of current and former NFL athletes.”

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Of nine separate reviews, none could find evidence in the data that saturated fats had had an effect on cardiovascular mortality or total mortality. (July 24, 2017)

Of nine separate reviews, none could find evidence in the data that saturated fats had had an effect on cardiovascular mortality or total mortality. (July 24, 2017)